"and the whole earth was of one language [...]"

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9)

At this point in history, all the people of the Earth could communicate. They all spoke one language. This shared language made them very powerful, because much can be accomplished when everyone can communicate. The problem, though, was that they attempted to use this power to reach God in some human way; they built the tower of Babel, which they wanted to reach into heaven. God needed to show them that He cannot be reached through the works of man alone, and so he chose to "confound the language of all the earth", as we read above.

Not only does this teach me an important lesson about my service to God, it also goes to demonstrate how powerful language is. This is the passage that kept coming to mind as I read through Canagarajah's "TESOL at Forty" article yesterday. In the section that focuses on sociopolitical and geographical issues, he writes about the complex relationship between society and language today by describing four characteristics: 1) The economic and social relationships between communities are multilateral, 2) National boundaries have become porous as people, goods, and ideas flow easily across them, 3) Space and time have become compressed, enabling us to shuttle rapidly between communities and communicative contexts, in both virtual and physical space, and 4) Languages, communities, and cultures have become hybrid, shaped by the fluidity of social and economic relationships.

To me, this describes a return to Babel. United under one language, all the nations and people of the world can become very powerful. This can be beneficial; communication can allow for the spread of many wonderful ideas. Just this weekend, my husband and I bought almost an entire kitchen off of craigslist, and he commented about how great it was that we could somehow find out when an older, retired couple wanted to sell their entire stainless steel kitchen for really cheap! :) We all benefit from being able to exchange ideas and information. However, because language is so powerful, I think we have to be so careful about how we use it - whether it is to say "hello" on the street or to conduct business transactions. Language has the power to unite us, but just as equal, if not stronger, is its power to destroy us. Abused language can have severe consequences. Language has enabling characteristics because of its ability to cross nationl and international boundaries described above, but it will never make us more powerful than our Maker.